I bought a Brother Pacesetter 1000. It was great for piecing, but horrible for quilting. I've known several other people who have said the same about lower cost machines - they piece ok, but quilting messes up the tension.
When I was searching for a replacement machine (I was tired of putting money into having tension fixed), I had to choose machines that had local dealers. So, while Huskvarna and Pfaff are good machines, they were out. Consumer Reports rates Bernina really well and local quilters really like the Janome line. So, I finally came down to choosing between Bernina and Janome. Bernina won because of a special financing deal, but other than the BSR (Stitch Regulator), I would have probably been just as happy with the Janome. Janome Gem is really popular for machines to take to classes as well.
Finally, closeness of the dealer may not be an issue for you. I had to see the brother dealer lots of times. I take the Bernina master classes, but I can figure most things on this machine myself, while I couldn't figure out the bobbin case on the brother.